Three Excruciating Moments

For those who didn't watch, there were three key, highly painful moments in last night's loss to the Phillies:

1) Fourth inning, no score. Beltran hits a solo homer to open up the frame, Delgado follows it up with a double and Wright gets hit by a pitch. The Mets are finally going to open up a can of whoop arse on the Phillies, right? Well, no. Because after Paul Lo Duca's groundout -- which advanced both runners -- Ruben Gotay hits a routine fly ball to right field, a ball that would score pretty much anyone other than Jabba the Hut and, it turns out, Carlos Delgado from third base. Shane Victorino made a wonderful throw to gun "The Puerto Rican Mr. T" out at the plate, but, c'mon, Carlos, get the lead out.

2) Seventh inning, Mets up 2-0. Aaron Heilman comes in, promptly walks the first batter he faces, Aaron Rowand. The fearsome Abraham Nunez singles then, two batters later, Jimmy Rollins rips a three-run homer.
Heilman is very important part of this team, and even the best relievers get hit. But is he not starting to feel very Benitez-y with his propensity to give up late homers? I know I'm starting to get real tired of this act.

3) Down 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Ruben Gotay reaches on an error and David Newhan doubles. Up steps Julio Franco, who grounds out to a diving Ryan Howard at first base, stranding Gotay at third. OK, that's fine....in hindsight, you'd like to see Gotay run on contact, but it's probably better to play it safe there. So after Jose Reyes is intentionally walked, Endy Chavez, and fouling off approximately 19 pitches and (me saying to a co-worker "I have a bad feeling he's going to hit into a double play here") grounds out into an inning-ending double play. To make matters worse, a sniper shot Chavez in the hamstring as he was sprinting to first base. I'm sure we'll know more about his condition tomorrow, but I don't imagine we'll see him back on the field before the All-Star break.

I hesitate to describe a loss in June as "brutal," but that one comes awfully close.

At least the Braves lost....

Around the Web:

Willie Randolph poked some fun at Rick Peterson during a press conference yesterday:

Asked why the pitching coach Rick Peterson has had so much success here, Randolph replied, "He's into those biomechanics." Then he turned to the questioner, raised his hands in the air and pretended to be a monster or something: "Ooh. He's one of those real deep spiritual cats. You've gotta talk to him about that because he's too deep for me. And when he speaks, I can't hear him anyway. He whispers."

Then, asked if Peterson puts his hand on Randolph's shoulder (Peterson does this often with pitchers and even the occasional reporter), Randolph said, "No, I don't let him touch me. I might turn into a leprechaun or something."

Despite the fact his VORP dropped nearly 28 runs from his previous year with the Marlins; Delgado enjoyed another very good season in his first with the Mets. His VORP of 35.2 runs was 9th best among major league first baseman with at least 100 PA's and he posted his 9th straight .300+ EqA season at .307. Even though he was approaching his age 35 season and his ability to hit left-handed pitching was deteriorating even further, PECOTA was still optimistic, projecting a .271/.365/.517 batting line from Delgado and a VORP of 31.3 runs. On the season Delgado leads all Met hitters in home runs with eight, but he is only hitting .226/.300/.385; his VORP at -1.2 runs. Honorable mentions: Paul Konerko, Adam LaRoche and Richie Sexson.